AC's and MT's
by Ryodin
Summary: Kayla messes up a mission and has to pick up the pieces of her life.


AC's to MT's

"Get out of there!" Rachel yelled through Kayla's comm. A heartbeat later the radar system picked it up.

"Warning, incoming mechanized unit." The male computer went through the data, "number of units: one. Type: AC. I.D. check confirms as number three ranker Merc."

Kayla glanced at her damage report again, her trick's backfire left the ELF-2 at half power, but because of that; double use-time. At some point the circuitry would burn out though.

That left arm was mainly undamaged and should operate like normal. Her pulse shoulder gun was not only empty and jettisoned, but also probably destroyed in the four-missile bomb she set off.

The right arm was scarred at what parts remained; the joint was locked in place by disfigured armor. Not that it mattered; only and eighth of the arm was there past the elbow.

The rest of the core was no better, radar went in and out, most sensors were offline, but luckily visuals were stable. The core itself was warped and torn, only the booster's heat resistance let the little things survive. One leg's joint was destroyed, leaving it free-hang; but it was supporting weight. The other was in good shape, though the edges were singed, as the leg was wider than the arm.

Merc was a tank-tread, heavily armored, and armed.

"Well," Kayla thought aloud with the comm. Still open to Rachel, "I wonder if he's friendly." A wry smile crossed her face. She clicked off the comm. And established a link with Merc.

"What's your goal?" She questioned.

"You."

She frowned. He was known for being gruff though.

"Run Kayla!" Rachel forced the comm. Open again.

"I can't Rachel, " her voice was trained calm from her mercenary life with the Raven's fold. Somehow panic had yet to grip her as well. "Katana is completely fried, I have to fight."

"You can't win though…"

"I've chosen to live this life, so I must have chosen to die this death as well." _Not by choice_. She added in her mind. Twenty-three was no age to die at. At least she got that last brave statement thought.

She entered the range of his cannon, which unfolded.

The flash of light came long before the clang of the fire to Kayla, her AC, Katana, flamed once to jump to the right. The ball of fire sped past and slammed the entrance to the complex she was guarding. Luckily it was far too strong to be hurt by that.

"Please… not another…" It didn't sound like Rachel realized that the comm. was still open.

Kayla thrust Katana into the air and soared over another round of the grenade launcher. A bolt of energy singed the foot of her left leg as she passed over him. The AC struck the ground and spun around to face its opponent. As it was a caterpillar tread, he was barely half way around to face her.

Merc boosted backward as Katana's long red weapon lashed his side. A glowing cut was left in the wake of the ELF-2 cut. A howitzer blast came from Merc's left arm, which took off Katana's right entirely. She strafed to the right again and came up to his side.

Kayla was full of energy, everything was moving slowly to her. This battle-rush was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

The blade cut across the same place, Merc took a moment to try and turn to face her, before boosting straight up to get away from the laser-blade. The cannon unfolded again, he aimed as far up as he could and fired once. The blast threw his AC forward to aim down at the ground, where he fired another shot.

Kayla was already fleeing the blast zone, as best she could, a wash of heat tore more metal from the back of her Core. The hit put her in a slight spin; she panicked and hit her boosters again. It stabilized with her facing the other AC.

Merc hit the ground and started to turn again, ELF-2 lashed the back of his Core, then held at the shoulder. _Damn_. He thought.

The heat of the blade severed the grenade launcher, which fell forward and rolled heavily off the AC.

"To hell with you!" Merc shouted.

His AC turned enough to face Katana, his weapon blasted a hole in the side of her Core, her bladeknocked the howitzer to the side before he could fire it too, and another cut removed the gun on his right. Kayla jumped again, straight over the AC.

When she hit the ground on the other side the AC bent a little since so much support was missing. Kayla turned on her bad leg and stepped with the good one onto the back of the caterpillar section of Merc's AC. The generator went into the red as she fired up the ELF-2 again.

She jammed it into the booster-slot on the back of the core. No boosters were there after all since it was a caterpillar model, leaving a sparsly armored slot.

Merc must have shrieked, his AC boosted quickly, toppling Katana over. Kayla detached ELF-2 as she fell, leaving it actually wedged into the booster slot. She would have dropped it anyway, it just overheated and was about to go critical. Katana hit the ground with a thud, she didn't even attempt to get back up. Merc looked down on the AC, beaten and broken, his left arm came up to fire his howitzer.

A moment before the shot could actually fire, something on his back blew apart, the ELF-2. The cut was deeper than she had thought, it send the AC flying forward with his generator damaged. The weapon fired as he soared over her. The caterpillar AC slammed into the ground, upturned, just as the round struck Katana in the left shoulder.

The arm came apart, and the head was blown half off as well. The raw mechanics of the core were visible, right down to a small part of the cockpit shielding.

Once the AC had charged itself back up, Kayla hit the boosters so send Katana to its broken feet. She managed to stand it correctly by some miracle, and set the AC limping home.

She was shaking the entire way. Cold sweat covered her, and she felt not only numb, but also asleep. That fight… felt that she could sleep for a week.

Rachel was paying Kayla a visit as soon as she was back in her room. Kayla was sprawled out on a couch; Rachel was sitting in a chair adjacent. They each sipped on a hot cup of white tea, Rachel demanding to hear every detail of the battle from Kayla's lips.

After the story was worked out, Rachel started on her own admittance.

"I've never been this close to any Raven before. I mean, we're supposed to be completely detached from the lives of our operative, but I can't seem to do that. Not with you. I think we would have become friends even if you never joined the Nest." She said, looking up at Kayla from the tea. She was smiling sweetly back at her.

She had opened her mouth to respond when the door shook with a knocking.

Her expression went stern, "enter," Kayla said. A man in a suit crossed the threshold.

"Kayla?" he said, looking at her.

"Yes?"

"We just got your income/expense report. Its not so good."

"Yeah I know… I'll probably have to sell off most of the weapons and downgrade a bit… but I'll just go with easier missions for a while until I'm back on my feet. Being a mercenary isn't all that easy you know."

"Its worse than that." He said simply. Kayla raised an eyebrow at him. Her short blonde hair was still matted with her cold sweat, and lying down. "No weapons survived the battle if you recall. And repairs to the parts you _did_ return with, in other words the arms and head were totaled, would cost too much for the Nest's generosity. Your license as a Raven has been revoked."

Kayla shakingly put down her cup. Rachel's free hand went over her mouth.

"Well… to be specific, they did repair the parts." He said continuing. "But they sold them back, the proceeds went to pay your debts and give you some money to go off. You've got one thousand credits in your name, which should hold you for a while."

"But wait, didn't Crest put something extra in there for taking down Merc during that fight?" Rachel asked him.

"No," he said, "They didn't add a single credit, those bastards. Nothing was in the contract about something like that and they weren't feeling giving. I'm sorry Kayla." He turned back to her.

He sounded like he knew her pretty well, but then again Kayla wasn't much for remembering people. Though she was rather memorable her self. She had at least half a dozen men after her hide at all times.

"You do realize…" he said pointing at her laptop, "that you have mail?"

She turned around and saw the little blinking highlight that showed it. "Might as well."

Kayla hauled herself to her feet with obvious effort and crossed the room to the computer. She was still limping lightly on her left foot from a heavy impact in the fight.

Instead of using a mouse she punched in a few buttons on the keyboard to pull it up. One new mail was there.

_Sender: Kisaragi_

_Subject: Private request_

We are sorry to hear of your loss of Raven status. However we realize how much you specifically have aided our corporation in the past. To show that we do regret this turn of events we would like to offer you a job. Crest is leading an attack on a major research facility. It appears they want to take apart our latest MT technology. We have funds to either hire a Raven, or to produce ten more MT's to use for the defense. However we lack a leader for one fourth of the defense squad.

_Therefore we would be honored if you would take this position for us. This is a full-scale counterstrike and defense. You will follow all directions given, and will be treated as an employee for the battle; as you will be. Payment is as follows: Ownership of the MT you use during battle. Repairs to any damage incurred during battle, this battle only. Re-supply after this battle._

_Official contract and contact information is as follows:_

Kayla finished reading over the contract and stood back up.

"Looks like I got me a job," she smiled at the other two. Rachel's smile broadened for a moment, then narrowed.

"With what AC?"

"I'm being supplied an MT. Its mine if I live," she winked at Rachel. It was an old joke of how at one point a company had been known to try and hire Ravens that would be able to complete the mission. But not survive.

Both girls laughed, the man looked between the two of them, not getting the morbid joke.


End file.
